Cooking for a Husband

Since becoming a wife, I have begun to learn the art of cooking for a husband. Now, that doesn't sound so tricky, but it takes more skill than one might realize. It takes time, thought, energy, and most importantly, love. There is certainly a difference in thought from cooking for you and your roommate in college to cooking in your own kitchen for you and your husband.

I was very blessed to receive a "Joyce P." cookbook for our wedding. For those of you who don't know what that is, a lady from my church back home has put together a recipe book which contains recipes from most all the women in the church. There are over 200 pages (each page containing more than one recipe) with wonderfully sounding food, as well as entertaining stickers and comic strips.

In addition to that wonderful, very heavy cookbook, I also have a Better Homes and Gardens cookbook that my Grandma gave me for a birthday and a very old Betty Crocker cookbook that came from the things of and elder women my dad and brothers helped move (don't worry, she was giving it away, they didn't just take it). And on top of that, allrecipes.com and cooks.com have been amazing resources. But the funny thing is, the foods that have become our "favorites" have come from the good ol' fashion cookbooks, not the internet.

[Lava Baby Cake - Better Homes and Gardens Cookbook]

One of my favorite things I have made thus far was a very rich, very gooey, very chocolaty dessert. Not only was it the best thing I've ever tasted out of my own kitchen, it was very fun to make. To create the "lava" of these Lava Baby Cakes, I had to melt chocolate in a sauce pan with a little cream. Once it cooled, I rolled it into little balls. I took the batter, pour it into each ramekin until it was about half full, dropped the little chocolate balls into the center and then filled the ramekin the rest of the way with batter. Quite simple, but the end result was heavenly! The chocolate cake was perfectly done on the outside and once the center was broken, all the lava chocolate goo came spilling out. Amazing! It was best when it first came out of the oven, but even heated up the next day was still fabulous.

[Cranberry Bread - "Joyce P." Cookbook]

The most recent baking success was a complete accident. I was getting ready to start dinner and as I was flipping to the correct page for the recipe, I happened to flip open to a page that said, "Cranberry Bread." I quickly scanned the recipe to see if I had all the ingredients. I did. I got out my bowl and started throwing the ingredients in. I used whole wheat flour, instead of white, and added raisins and almonds. I threw it into the oven and began making dinner as I had originally intended. About 40 minutes later the apartment began to smell like fall, with a pumpkin spice candle burning and Cranberry Bread in the oven. We had it for dessert that night, which was a treat (despite what your eyes tell you from the post, we do not eat dessert very often at all). I just ate the last piece of the bread for breakfast this morning, with Peppermint tea. This recipe will definitely be made again during this holiday season.

- the thoughts of Anna B.